Things never could've been worse
by The Lord Of Pages
Summary: There they were, just two men at the end of the day. Sure, one was a plant, and the other was a kid forced to grow up and kill far too fast. But hey, they were there, and that's what mattered, right? At the end of the day, well it didn't matter to the first guy who the other was or what he did. They were friends, and sure enough, that's all that mattered to the plant.


((Another apology from yours truly, is what this is. This is me branching out again, and feeling oddly sentimental about my experiences with Trigun and the Humanoid Typhoon. Don't take this as canon to my BlazBlue Story with Vash as Ragna's partner. But this should offer some insight into how I personally view Vash's character, and what he sees the world as being like. Be prepared for some VERY introspective, sentimental crap. Just warning ya'll, well...let's begin!))

I don't own Trigun, 'tis but a far greater series than any one man could own.

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There they were, just two men at the end of the day. Sure, one was a plant, and the other was a kid forced to grow up and kill far too fast. But hey, they were there, and that's what mattered, right? At the end of the day, well it didn't matter to the first guy who the other was or what he did. They were friends, and sure enough, that's all that mattered to the plant. The kid was a cynical brat, and he had seen his fair share of lies, truths twisted, and trash spoken, but the plant had done and seen just as worse. He bore those scars on his body, not as a reminder on his failings, but as a reminder that he too was just as human as any other being who lived on Gunsmoke.

Were they bastards? Probably, the plant hated his brother for being a murderer and a monster, and the kid hadn't seen the people who raised him for a long time. But no,no, hate is a strong word, isn't it? The plant didn't hate his brother, he hated what he had become. The plant couldn't help but remember those good times he and his brother shared, the things that mattered to them when things were so much easier, and when all the evils of man were unknown to them. Yeah, back under the nurturing arms of Rem. Rem... She was a woman all right, far too kind, far too gentle, and most importantly, far too smart. It's hard for women like her to care for kids, because their kindness tends to make them too easy on their children. The plant loved her like his own mother, and who wouldn't love her like their own mother?

The brat though, he didn't have a mother he could love. Probably why he was such a jerk for so long, and why he had so many regrets in his life. Did the plant care? Hell no, he'd accept you even if you shot a puppy in front of him, although he would take the puppy to a vet first, then kick your teeth in second. He just had this aura, this feel to him, 'ya know? That kind of feel that makes you want to trust him, that even if he's your enemy, he just has that air to him that makes you feel like the ass for trying to fight him.

Probably why he got along so well with the brat. He understood the kid, despite being different from him. That was just the kind of guy Vash the Stampede was. He was born with a heart too big, and a brain too small. A big hearted idiot who could shoot very well. Funny thing, ain't it? That a big dope with spiky blond hair and a beauty mark could be a drop dead shot, and an excellent fighter to boot. Excellent? Nah, let's say brilliant. Brilliant? No,no. I got it, extraordinary fighter. The brat though, he could shoot his way out of a barrel, but plugging the hole he shot up would be a tricky thing.

On that dustball planet, the brat and Vash made a pretty good team...if you were drunk. I mean, a dead beat moron with a big heart teaming up with a cynical brat who'd shoot ya than wonder if you were a good person afterwards? But, against all odds, they were a team. And a team that worked. Damn, did they work. It's funny at times, one was at least a century older than the other, and had more scars than anyone else, and the other was a brat who grew up too fast and got cynical and mopey about it.

But that Vash... he pulled out the innocence still left in that brat, forced the kid to see who still cared for him, and made him become a man worthy of respect at the end of the day. Vash saw what that kid thought he had lost, and wonder what he saw? Goodness, he saw a lot of that in him. You can try to kill your heart as much as you'd like, be as horrible as you want, and consider yourself the meanest mother-humper to ever holster a gun. But against Vash? Hah, you were as soft as a baby cuddling up with a kitten in the face of that man.

At the end of the day, Nicholas D. Wolfwood had a lot of regrets in him, aching just as badly as the wounds that were killing him. He sat there, on that dusty, broken up, beaten down old couch with Vash, just pondering his regrets and his odd friendship with the Humanoid Typhoon. Heh, but could he hate it, any of it? Hell no. All that mattered to those two men, was that they had good times together, had a lot of laughs, a ton of tears, and an ocean of blood poured between them.

I guess that's why it was both sad and happy, when Nicholas breathed his last. He died with a smile on his face, looking at all of those good memories, and thinking, just thinking to himself that," Yeah. These people, these happy kids, this blond idiot next to me were worth it. All of it, they were worth it, and I'm glad to have known them," that's what a man will think when he's laughing and crying, sure enough. A brat who died as a real man. Someone who remembered what matters, who remembers the good stuff, the important stuff, but most of all, the happy stuff. Nicholas died as a man should, surrounded by loved ones, remembering the happy memories he had, and nursing a cold drink with his best friend.

Vash had to bury his best friend, but he understood it. Understood that every good memory has to be paid for with a bittersweet one. It's just karma, in a way. Ya gotta lump the good with the bad, and the bad with the good. But it's always, always the most important thing to know this. Things could've always been worse. That was a lesson he knew all too well, and one he personally bore over his back at all times. Planet Gunsmoke is a tough girl, and she doesn't tolerate weaklings... but sometimes, just sometimes, that old girl gets soft. And when she does, she weeps for the death of a kid too young to look that old, and she weeps deeply for the friend who has to bury him. But remember, things could've always been worse, right?

(( AND that's a wrap. Hope you enjoyed this sentimental nonsense. I certainly had a bit of fun writing it.))


End file.
